Sambhar Podi or Powder

in Powder

Most South Indian homes ,stock this powder in the kitchen shelves, as this is the powder used regularly in  not just cooking  sambhar . With passage of time, home made powder has been replaced by store bought ones. However, many home makers, still make these powder at home, as they are finicky of the quality and taste of the dishes. Also as people are getting more conscious of the quality of  ingredients going into the making, they try making  the powders at home.  You will also find out its easy and cheaper to make at home  and the podi/powder tastes better too. The sambhar powder recipe differs from region to region. One standard recipe used is given below.

This Podi / Powder can also be used while making curries or poriyal.

Recipe taken from Cook and see 2.

Ingredients

  • Red chilies 10 to 12 cups,
  • Red gram dal ¾ cup,
  • Bengal gram dal ¼ cup,
  • Black gram dal 1 cup,
  • Peppercorns ¼ cup,
  • Coriander seeds 3 cups,
  •  Whole Turmeric long variety(Virali Manjal) 20 grams,
  • Fenugreek seeds 2 to 3 tablespoons,
  • Curry leaves one handful,
  • Oil 6 to 8 teaspoon.

Method

  1. Shallow fry the red chillies in a deep frying pan, adding 2 teaspoons of oil, without allowing it to blacken.
  2. Shallow fry rest of the ingredients one by one,  adding rest of the oil ,till they release their aroma  but are not darkened.
  3. In a mixie/ processor , grind the red chillies to coarse powder.
  4. Add coriander seeds , turmeric and curry leaves and grind again. Add the dals and peppercorns and grind to a fine powder.
  5. Home made sambar powder which is preservative free is ready. Now go ahead and use it in making slurpy sambar.
  6. Red chillies can be reduced if you prefer less spicy, sambhar.

Note

  1. If castor oil is used to shallow fry, the powder will remain unspoilt  for a long time. However other oils like sesame . groundnut etc can also be used .
  2. Fenugreek seeds can be avoided if sambar powder is used, for poricha kuzhambu, koottu, etc.
  3. If you are making a large amount of Sambhar powder , divide them in batches , use  one batch  and store the rest  in refrigerator .
  4. Turmeric can be avoided while making sambhar powder and can be added directly, while cooking.